Mikan, my love
by WhiteWisteria
Summary: The Last Dance. It has always been rumoured that if a boy and a girl dance the Last Dance together, they will end up together forever... Unabashingly Natsume and Mikan pairing XD [DAFFODIL'S PREQUEL]
1. The Last Dance

**..Mikan, My Love..**

_by Snow Mirage_

**_

* * *

_**

**Summary: The story of how Daffodil came about, of how Mikan recieved the flower from Natsume. Unabashingly Natsume and Mikan pairing** XD

* * *

**_Two years ago, at Alice Academy..._ **

"Mikan-chan kawaii!" This very enthusiastic greeting came from Anna and Nonoko, whose brilliant smiles threatened to overcome even the brightest of suns.

"Really?" Self-conscious, Mikan plucked at the skirt of the yousei dress she had on.

They were all gathered in Hotaru's room to prepare for the upcoming event of the year: the Last Dance.

It also happened to be their last time to be able to dance the Last Dance as this year would be the year they graduate.

Mikan thus wanted to be sure that she looked her very best for this event.

Just then, Hotaru entered the room.

"Neh, neh Hotaru! How do I look?" Mikan hurried up to her best friend, a worried frown between her eyebrows.

Hotaru looked over, shrugged and said, "Ugly."

"Really?" Mikan was ready to run off to the bathroom attached to Hotaru's room when the other girl clamp a hand onto her arm to prevent her from doing so.

"Kidding, baka." A gentle smile flirted onto the usually stoic-looking face as she flicked a finger gently at Mikan's forehead.

Mikan heaved a sigh of relief and smiled happily at her friend.

"But," Hotaru added, " You will look better without these."

Saying so, she reached over and pulled out the rubber bands that held Mikan's long hair in two ponytails.

Set free of their customary prison, Mikan's hair cascade down to her waist in gentle waves.

"Hotaru!"Mikan exclaimed, trying desperately to reach the rubber band that the other girl was casually holding out of reach using yet another invention. This one caused the rubber band to float in mid-air, out of reach to Mikan's groping fingers.

"You know I feel...weird when I don't tie my hair!" Mikan turned and glared at the unperturbed girl, who simply looked calmly at her friend.

"You look better when your hair is down." She stated.

Hotaru then reached behind her and opened the door, just in time to see an annoyed looking Natsume and harassed Ruka-pyon walk by, the reasons for their looks apparent as they had been followed by a pack of females who were giggling and whispering and indiscreetly following them around the campus the whole day in hopes that they would garner a coveted last dance from either Natsume or Ruka.

"Natsume, burn this." Hotaru stated and tossed the rubberbands to him.

It wasn't a request, but a demand. No one else dare to speak in that way to Hyuuga Natsume except, it seems, Hotaru.

Natsume simply raised a dark brow as he fluidly caught the rubber bands in his fist.

Mikan panicked. Even though Natsume usually wouldn't listen to Hotaru, sometimes, he complied for reasons unknown to the logic of humankind. And it was the only pair of matching rubber bands she had left.

"Natsume! Please don't burn it!" Mikan wailed out as she made an effort to rush up before her rubber bands became melted globs of rubber.

He looked at her, and he smirked.

Mikan knew then she would never see her strawberry rubber bands again.

_Whoosh._

It was worse than Mikan had predicted; the bands became ash.

"Natsume!" The furious Mikan howled out, reaching out to strangle the daylights out of him but Hotaru stopped her by firmly grabbing onto the back of Mikan's dress with an invention.

"Baka. Don't spoil your dress."

The statement caused Natsume and Ruka-pyon to noticed Mikan's getup.

Natsume tucked his hands back into his pockets and proceed to insolently looked at Mikan slowly from her feet up to the top of her head, causing the latter to blush slightly at the intensity of his look.

For a moment, Mikan wondered whether Natsume would compliment her; after all, she had taken a lot of time to prepare.

But then, she should have known better.

"You look uglier than usual, polka-dotted panties." Natsume drawled before he continued strolling down the corridor to where his room was, a smirk on his face.

"Let me at him! Let me at him!" Mikan struggled valiantly in vain against the iron-hold of the invention.

"Baka." Hotaru muttered.

"I think you look nice." Ruka smiled apologetically, as though apologizing for Natsume's behaviour, a light blush staining his cheeks.

Mikan stopped struggling and beamed a beautific smile at the now extremely red-in-the-face Ruka, " Arigatou Ruka-pyon!"

Only Hotaru saw the walking Natsume stopped for a moment in his tracks before he continued.

* * *

**A/n: This story will be short, two to three chapters only...it leads up to the events mentioned in the other story Daffodil..it is set in the year before Mikan and Natsume graduates from theAlice Academy...**

**Everyone is eighteen in this story and Tsubasa and Misaki have already graduated...**

**please R&R! **

_**

* * *

**_


	2. The Flower in Question

**..Mikan, My Love..**

By Snowmirage

* * *

**Summary: The story of how Daffodil came about, of how Mikan recieved the flower from Natsume. Unabashingly Natsume and Mikan pairing** XD

* * *

**Chapter two: The Flower in Question**

**To give or not to give, that is the question.**

_A few minutes later after Anna and Nonoko had headed off in search of Misaki-sensei (poor guy)..._

"Mou! Natsume baka!" Mikan stormed back into the now empty room after childishly sticking out her tongue at the dark-haired boy and sat down at the dressing table, her face propped up in her hands as she stared back at her own face.

"But then, Ruka-pyon was really sweet." This was said in a soft whisper, barely audible, and a light blush stained Mikan's face even as a small smile lit on her face.

Then she thought of Natsume again and her face underwent a three-hundred-and-sixty-about change.

"Geez, sometimes I wonder why Ruka-pyon even bothered to be friends with someone like that idiot. Baka, baka, baka Natsume."

Behind her, Hotaru was quietly observing Mikan's very expressive face through the mirror, an undecipherable expression in her eyes.

It may only be slight, but in the moment Natsume had called Mikan 'ugly', she had seen the flash of hurt and disappointment in Mikan's eyes.

She walked over and clamp a hand onto Mikan's shoulder, shoving a make-up kit into the startled girl's hands.

"Do your make-up again. I need to talk to someone."

That said, Hotaru marched over to the door and jerked it open, ignoring Mikan's calls.

Oh yes, she was going to talk to _someone_.

And maybe punch some sense into that someone at the same time as well.

After all, no one was entitled to make Mikan sad besides her.

Natsume was going to experience what it was like to have a Conversation with Imai Hotaru.

* * *

Natsume settled comfortably onto the soft ground beneath the tree he always frequent and proceeded to bury his nose into the book of manga he held in his hands. 

It was the newest edition of Naruto, something that he had been looking forward to for a month now.

But now, the book suddenly seemed to have lost its appeal.

His mind kept drifting back to how that baka youjo had smiled when Ruka had complimented her.

And no, he wasn't jealous.

Hell no.

Well, maybe a little.

He had known for a long time that Ruka liked _her_, just as Ruka knew that Natsume likes her, no matter how Natsume may deny it every single time he was accused of it.

And he knew Imai saw through him every time.

Before, even though he had willed himself not to stop and look back when Ruka had stopped to talk to Mikan, his feet seemed to have grown a mind of its own.

And he knew Imai saw.

He could feel the power of the coolly discerning piercing violet stare within a kilometer away.

"Hyuuga."

Maybe not always.

The cold, detached tone that came out of no where would have caused any other people to jump and shriek their lives away, but somehow, Natsume managed to keep his reaction to a minimal jerk of his head.

Even so, it put a small smirk on the violet-eyed girl mouth as she stared insolently at him from where she was seated on her floating duck creation.

"Nani?" Natsume snapped, unhappy at being smirked at.

He always does the smirking.

No one else. (A/n: Male pride, what can I say? Insufferable.)

"I want to talk to you about something."

Seated as she was on the obnoxious creation, Natsume had to tilt his head all the way back to talk to the girl and it wasn't exactly putting him in a good mood, uncomfortable as the position was.

It was on the tip of Natsume's tongue to refuse her, but the glint in Imai's eyes stopped him.

He had seen the same look in her face the day Ruka had adamantly refused to buy her favourite crab roe for her. The next day, they had found the poor beleaguered Ruka tied to a tree, hanging a few inches from the mechanical snapping turtles below.

Ruka had never not listened to Imai ever since.

Taking his silence as consent, Hotaru started talking.

"You like Mikan."

It was a statement, not a question.

"I do _not _like the baka."

Natsume had barely finished the sentence when he found himself in full-range of the infamous Baka gun.

"Don't lie to me idiot. It is written all over your face."

Ouch.

The girl certainly knows where to hurt a person the most.

Natsume suddenly recalled why he had never liked Mikan's creep best friend.

Exactly because she couldn't be handled in a way other _normal _females could be.

He glared back sullenly at her. As if he could deny.

"You will ask her to dance the Last Dance with you."

Again, it was a statement, not a question.

Natsume contemplated setting fire to that annoying hovering duck and its owner, only to have to settle with glaring when the aforementioned owner coolly informed him that she had sprayed on a Fire Alice proof repellent, Invention Number #176.

"Why should I?" Natsume raised a brow, an uninterested look in his eyes.

He was Hyuuga Natsume after all.

Listening to someone had never been one of his strong points.

Going against someone was.

"Because I would if I were you." This was spoken in a tone that would have sent grown men running away in another direction.

Natsume simply stood up and proceeded to walk away, with a simple," Like I care."

"Hyuuga." Against his will, he stopped.

"She likes daffodils."

The irrationality of the sentence had him staring at the now smugly smiling female as though she had grown another head.

"Who cares? Crazy woman." The last was muttered under the boy's breath as he stalked away, contemplating what a lovely world it would be without Imai Hotaru in it.

"You do." This was murmured under Hotaru's breath as she saw Natsume steal a glance at the wild daffodils growing on one side of the walkway, their bright yellow petals swaying gently in the evening breeze.

Stubborn idiot.

* * *

**A/n: Almost finishing! Last chapter left! (Heaves a breath of relief.)**

**Thanks to the lovely people who found time and took the effort to pen those thoughtful and encouraging reviews! You guys are the best!**

**Will Natsume give the flower to Mikan? Will their last Last Dance be with each other? Or will Natsume's pride get in the way? All will be known in the next chapter! (Or not, for those of you who have read Daffodil)**


	3. Dance With Me

. mikan, my love .

. snowmirage .

**o**-----------------------------------------------**o**

**A/n: I am sorry this took so long to come out! Gomen (dodges all the flying utensils)...but I lost the entire chapter when my com crashed (It is a particular side-hobby it likes to undertake to torture me) I had to retype everything from memory. Well, whatever...At least it came out :') Enjoy (I hope)...**

**Dedicated to: **bienenstich, glenda23, dbzgtfan2004, Ridley Silverlake, natsumexmikan, blu3 ch3rry blossom, danavalkyrie, noWriter, 'rhein-013', sakura4594, Toki Hasegara, black cat girl 2006, aniprincess13, emrevolemina, who am i? & anime-rawkz.

**You Guys are the best :D**

**o**-----------------------------------------------**o**

**Chapter three: Dance in the Moonlight**

The night of the Last Dance.

It was a night of subtle beauty, of laughter, dancing by the firelight, sumptuous and it was also punctuated by the awestruck gasps coming from one Sakura Mikan, who was obviously overwhelmed by the stark beauty of the night even though, as pointed out by her ever helpful best friend Imai Hotaru, it had been the same for the past years.

"Neh, neh Hotaru! Mitte mitte!" She pointed excitedly at the giant bon-fire burning brightly at the centre of the grounds, its flickering orange light silhouetting the couples dancing next to it.

"Baka." With that single, cold word, the festival's homecoming queen looked away, already having been distracted by the delectable looking buffet spread and of course, her favorite crab-flavored soup.

Mikan, left to trail behind together with Hotaru's admirers cum prospective business partners which had grown to an alarming number along with the years, let out a sigh as she noted her friends dancing away on the dance floor.

Yuu was dancing with Nonoko, Sumire with Mochu, Koko with Anna, Misaki-sensei (though seemingly unwilling) was dancing with a female student, Narumi-sensei with Serena-sensei and even Youichi was dancing with Mai, a female he had taken an eye to (though he would never admit it).

Mikan felt slightly left out.

Then she spotted someone that immediately had her brightened up.

"Ruka-pyon!" She waved happily as she ran up to Ruka, who was not surprisingly surrounded in by females of all ages and sizes hoping for their 'Ruka-sempai' to ask them for a dance.

Reaching him, she paused for a while, her brows furrowed slightly as she noted that Natsume was not with Ruka.

His absence practically screamed out at her with little neon light bulbs.

She didn't know why, but it bothered her.

After dancing with Ruka, much to the displeasure of the other unsuccessful females, she set off to find the sole loner who would never know what hit him.

o-------------------------------------------------------------o

Seated far away from the dance grounds in a small clearing, Hyuuga Natsume contemplated the lovely view of the full moon and how pleasant it was to be far away from all the females.

The slight rustling of the leaves alerted Natsume to the presence of someone else.

A she.

He didn't even bothered to glance up to know that it was Mikan even before the brunette plopped herself down onto the space next to him, slightly worse for wear from having to traipse through the forest foliage.

After all, there were only two people who would know where he was, Ruka because well, he would simply know and the baka youjo because it was where she found him every single year.

"Did I say you could sit next to me?" He drawled out rudely as he flicked an annoyed look at the girl.

In the midst of arranging her skirts nicely so that she would not crinkle them, Mikan paused to glare at the flame caster, who was already looking in the other direction.

"Natsume baka." She muttered under her breathe and stuck out her tongue at him.

Natsume ignored her.

He had wanted some peace and quiet and mainly, to be far far _far _away from a certain extremely annoying human breed called females.

He got it.

That is, until a certain annoying female by the name of Sakura Mikan appeared.

Every single year.

In fact, he could even predict what she was going to ask a few minutes later, word for word.

_Don't you want to dance?_

Natsume begin a mental countdown in his brain. _In three, two, one._

"Don't you want to dance?"

Natsume smirked. He liked it when he was right.

"No." He answered baldly, knowing that it would aggravate the baka.

His thoughts proved true when she immediately pouted and prop her chin back onto her bent knees.

She was so predictable.

They returned to their task of ignoring each other and admiring the moon, though one was now visibly disappointed.

It did not escape the sharp eye of a certain flame caster though.

Then, without a word, he stood up, dusting the leaves and dirt stuck on his black trousers, startling a surprised 'oh' out of the girl, who stared up at him with wide golden brown eyes.

He held out a hand to the still staring girl.

Clueless at what he wanted, she continued staring until Natsume, not exactly known for his boundless patience, drawled out with a roll of his eyes, "Didn't you want to dance, woman?"

A sparkle lit her eyes and she beamed happily at him, her previous feelings forgotten as she placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her up.

With her hand in his and his other hand wrapped around her waist, they begin to dance their own dance in the little glade, accompanied by the soft music from the Academy grounds.

Lost in their own world, they spun to the soft strains of music in the little clearing in an almost dream-like haze.

Then, Natsume just had to say something.

"Slow." He mocked at her, unable to keep the smirk off his face at the latter's rather slow comprehension of things in general.

"Why you...Stupid fox." She shot back, glaring at the unruffled boy who looked back at her coolly, one dark brow raised as he stared back at her insolently with his crimson eyes.

"Ugly."

"Baka."

"Lousy dancer."

"I am not!" A flushed appeared on Mikan's face as she stepped on his foot. Again.

Still, it was rather ungentlemanly of him to mention that, not that she ever thought polite was even a word in Hyuuga Natsujme's dictionary.

"Am too." Natsume replied, never one to lose out on a argument, causing the brunette to glare at him before stomping on his feet.

Hard.

He retaliated by stomping back on hers.

Suddenly, the ridiculousness of the situation struck Mikan and she started giggling before breaking out into laughter.

By then, even Natsume had a small smile on his face.

Soon her laughter was filling up the entire place as they continued to waltz under them moonlight.

When they finally stopped, Mikan was still smiling as she flopped down onto the grass, tired.

Natsume stood, illuminated by the moonlight, his hands tucked onto the pockets of his pants as he looked at her, his crimson gaze undecipherable.

Mikan, feeling the intensity of his stare, looked up and found her gaze locked with his.

Suddenly, in an uncalculated move that startled even himself, Natsume suddenly bent down, his palm sliding softly across her left cheek as he planted a soft kiss onto Mikan's right cheek.

Then he was gone in a rustle of leaves, leaving behind a blushing Mikan behind, her hand cupping her cheek as she stared after where Natsume had disappeared to.

o---------------------------------------o

That night, when Mikan reached her room, she found a long-stemmed daffodil lying across her bed, a tiny slip of paper under it bearing only a single letter: N.

It was enough to make her heart swell with emotion and for her to blush as she remembered the kiss.

She cradled the flower to her cheek and whispered out the words she never said to the enigmatic boy who had made her fall for him in the most unconventional way:

_I love you._

o---------------------------------------o

_Mikan. My love, my life._

_I love you, forever and ever._

**.fin.**

**o---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------o**

**A/n: My second finished fic! Rejoice, ye wonderful readers! XD**


End file.
